The jury in the murder trial has heard statements from further witnesses
16:10, 02 Mar 2026
A police officer guarding a cordon after the attack on Nila Patel (Image: Leicester Media)
A woman who had been friends with Nila Patel for about 40 years listened as the 56-year-old mother was fatally attacked by Chukwuemeka Ahanonu.
Ahanonu, 25, is on trial for murder after crashing his BMW outside Leicester Royal Infirmary and then sprinting up to Miss Patel – a complete stranger – and attacking her.
On Monday, March 2, the jury at Leicester Crown Court were told statements from various witnesses who had not been required to give evidence in person.
In her statement to Leicestershire Police, read out by prosecution junior barrister Caroline Bray, the woman said she had phoned Miss Patel to chat and they had been on the phone for about 15 minutes when the crash happened as Miss Patel was sitting on a bus.
Reading from the woman’s statement, Ms Bray said: “Nila suddenly gasped and said a car had flipped over on the road. Nila said, ‘I hope he’s all right, I hope he can get out’.”
Miss Patel got off the bus and told her friend she could smell fuel as she was walking away from the scene of the crash. At that point Miss Patel did not know Ahanonu, who had no shoes on, was sprinting up the centre of the road towards her.
Ms Bray said: “[Miss Patel’s friend] suddenly heard, ‘oh, oh’ and then there was no sound. She stayed on the call and said, ‘Nila are you OK?'”
Ms Bray said the next sound was someone asking, “has he got a weapon?” Miss Patel’s friend started shouting ‘Nila’ repeatedly but no one responded.
Miss Patel’s phone was recovered from the scene and put on the ambulance with her when she was taken into the nearby hospital’s resuscitation unit.
After calling Miss Patel’s number several times, a woman at the hospital answered the phone to Miss Patel’s friend and told her Miss Patel had been brought in with head injuries and was being transferred to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.
The friend, along with Miss Patel’s family, drove to Nottingham to be with her.
Ms Bray also read out other witness statements from people who were in the area at the time.
One man described how Miss Patel appeared to be in the “wrong place at the wrong time” and had gone “down like a ragdoll” after Ahanonu punched her repeatedly in the face.
Another witness, who was on a passing bus, described the attacker, saying: “He looked aggressive and it looked like he was shouting at the other person.
“The male then knocked the other person to the ground and punched them multiple times.”
Nila Patel was pronounced dead in hospital two days after the attack(Image: Leicestershire Police)
A woman driving along Welford Road described seeing Ahanonu “manically and repeatedly” punching Miss Patel. Ms Bray said the witness “turned away due to the shock and not wanting to see what was happening”.
A man driving with his daughter described her shouting to him: “Dad, he’s hitting some random woman.” He looked and saw Ahanonu “using both fists to hit” Miss Patel before stamping on her after she fell to the ground.
He said he saw the first hospital security guard arrive and leap at Ahanonu, grabbing him around the neck and pulling him off Miss Patel before the other security guards arrived to help pin Ahanonu to the ground.
Another statement was from a doctor who arrived to find Miss Patel “lying flat on the pavement, bleeding from her nose and ears with an obvious deformation to the left side of her head”, the court was told.
He said it was a “catastrophic” injury and that “considerable force” had been used to cause the skull fracture, the hearing was told.
Miss Patel stopped breathing moments later. She was put on oxygen but pronounced dead 46 hours later at Queen’s Medical Centre.
Ahanonu has admitted Miss Patel’s manslaughter but denies murder on the basis of diminished responsibility due to his mental health issues.
He has also pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply, dangerous driving and biting a police officer who was helping to restrain him after the attack.
The trial continues.
